The Final Tally – Sorta

We’re not completely done yet, but I do have most of the numbers. I probably should wait until I have them all, but I’m rather anxious to get this over and done with so am chomping at the bits, as they say.

• Handyman = $4,433.00
• Carpet Cleaners = $125.00
• Buying Carpet = $1,484.49
• Carpet Installers = $745.90
• Yard Work = $250.00
• House Cleaners = $725.00

The handyman did not do as much fence work as he thought he would, but did end up doing more on the plumbing leak than he originally planned on – so his number is going to shift around a bit when it’s all said and done.

We are extremely unhappy with the yard maintenance work, so Bryan has them going back out there tomorrow to do it again. This time, I hope they do it right – I hate shoddy work. I don’t expect their bill to go up any, but you just never know.

So now the bill stands at $7,762.49 – and we still need to get the fireplace cleaned out and inspected, the furnace cleaned out and inspected, and the deck & front walkway stained.  

To say that I am not happy with my previous tenants would be a colossal understatement.

Black Currants!

Good friends of mine live out in Hope and have a berry patch they let me pick. It’s that time of year finally, so I took a little drive out there this last weekend.

The patch is medium sized and quite overgrown with horsetail and other weeds. It also has a lot of raspberries (two different kinds) in it – but since we have our own here at the house, I did not pick any of them. I just concentrated on the good stuff: Black Currants!

It takes a while to identify the black currant plant out of all that jumble of green – but once you learn to see it, the picking gets easier. Normally I would get down underneath the plants to look up under the leaves, but this patch is so overgrown I could not do that. Instead, I would find the plant and then lift it up to get at the underside.

This year, the black currants were so huge and plentiful – I don’t think I’d ever seen it like that before! In just half an hour of picking, I got probably 12 cups worth. We’ll probably end up making cordial out of them this year.

The End of an Era

 

I took down the shelving in the library today.

Sigh…

I built that shelving over 20 years ago, and have absolutely loved it every since. I have thousands of books, and this shelving displayed them all proudly and beautifully.

But it was time to convert the room back into an actual bedroom so that it could be rented out. So – I spent 5 hours today with a pry bar and a screw driver. The room will get a new coat of paint and new carpet - it will be good as new!

I was exchanging texts with the man who helped me build them the whole time I was taking them down, too. He and I were both reminiscing their birth and lamenting their demise.

While I was working in the library, Bryan worked in the kitchen installing new LED lights and taking out the microwave that no longer works. Our contractor will install a new range hood in its place.

The Cost of Renting Your Property

Two years ago, I moved back to Palmer. Since that time, my house in Anchorage has been rented out. We hired a property management company to deal with the rental issues, but honestly have not been happy with them from the start. Nor are we happy with the tenants who are living in the house. Finally, however, after much grief and heartache, the tenants announced their intent to leave. We took this opportunity to fire the management company and look for a new one.

The process of getting rid of a tenant is a long, drawn out one – especially when they are problem tenants. They left the property in considerably less than perfect condition so we are looking at months of repair work and the possibility of taking them to court. The issues we have with the management company are not helping, either. I cannot wait to be done with them both!

We were able to find a new management company that so far seems to be much better than the old one. We are in the process of going through all the paperwork now, and should have everything signed and finalized within a week or so. They have been very helpful in dealing with the old company, too, and have given us several recommendations on contractors and cleaning crews.

Old management company: Real Property Management Last Frontier

New management company: Buyers Real Estate Property Management 

The first thing we did, 1 day after the tenant turned in their keys, was go in and do a Property Inspection. We spent a good two hours going over everything and taking well over 200 pictures. Then we compiled a report of all the damage and sent that to the old management company.

They then compared it to the report they had generated from their own property inspection and we now have a list of items that the tenant is liable for, a list of items the tenant MIGHT be liable for, and a list of items we’ll repair on our own dime. Bryan’s idea of what the tenant is responsible for does not match the old property management’s list at all, so there is a rather heated argument going on right now trying to reconcile the two.

We then hired a contractor to oversee all the repairs. Ben Persinger, of Persinger Construction, is wonderful. He met with us last night and went over the entire house offering up ideas for repair or replacement, giving us tidbits of his experience in the business, and just generally commiserating with us over the sad state of the property.

We also met with the flooring contractor who came in to give us an estimate on replacing all the carpet upstairs which was completely ruined by the tenants dogs. He is giving us a very good deal on his time & materials, so that is at least one thing I’m happy about in this whole mess.

Next on our list is to find a professional cleaner who can deal with all sorts of messes left behind. They, of course, will have to wait until after we repair everything and get the carpet done – but we do want the downstairs carpet deep cleaned right away so we can determine if it’s salvageable or if it, too, needs to be replace.

Our list of repairs is long and I don’t have exact prices yet so am estimating, but here are just a few of the items to give you an idea:

• Replace back door: $1,800.00
• Repair & repaint walls: $3,000.00
• New carpet upstairs: $2,000.00
• Repair kitchen cabinetry: $500.00
• Replace microwave: $350.00
• Thorough cleaning throughout: $750.00
• Fix garage door: $1,000.00
• Repair garage floor & driveway: $1,000.00
• Repair fence: $2,000.00

Plants and Animals

 Just a few random shots of plants & animals seen on our recent camping trip. 

This first one was a group of about 5 little baby ptarmigan we flushed out of the brush ahead of us. We didn’t see her, but I’m sure Mother wasn’t far away.

 

This flower caught my attention on one of our walks because of its light pink color. That’s unusual for a dogwood (I’m fairly certain that’s a dogwood, but could be wrong).

 

And this little baby tree is infected with a parasite that created these galls in such a weird pattern – it reminded me of an alien wrapped around it’s host.

 

Mushrooms were everywhere up there! I really wish I knew mushrooms better: we could have made several meals out of them.

 

And my final photo was the most amazing – so of course the picture itself is the absolute worst possible. We were camped at the Sourdough Creek Campground, a lovely spot next to a creek (hence the name). It was about 8:00 at night and Bryan & I were sitting at the table after dinner, just quietly reading, when he happened to glance out the window and said “Oh my god!” I looked up = AND SAW A LYNX LOOKING BACK AT ME! It was not 6 feet away from us and just stunningly beautiful. It looked at us and kind of twitched its tail a bit, then calmly continued on its way down the path.

 

We also saw several porcupine and a moose with her baby nearby - but didn't get pictures of them.

S’Mores!

You can’t go camping and NOT have S’Mores!

It had been quite a while for me, however. I had forgotten just how good they taste, and just how sweet they are. Definitely needed a good strong cup of tea to go with them.

We used Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares instead of the Hershey’s.

 

I must say, it was pretty darned tasty!

Weekend Camping Trip

Bryan and I got a killer deal on an RV rental so decided to take advantage of it and go on a 5-day camping trip up north to Tangle Lakes.

The deal was through Go North Car and RV Rentals: 50% off their normal rates for Alaskan residents! Their normal clientele are Europeans, but with the whole COVID thing going on their entire fleet was just sitting there in the parking lot. We would not have been able to afford it otherwise; renting an RV is not cheap.

We picked our RV up on Friday and headed out that afternoon. We got to Tangle Lakes by around 9:30 that night only to find that the campground was full. We ended up driving a few more miles up the  Denali Highway where we found a nice little pull-off on the side of the road that had a good view and was somewhat protected from traffic on the road.

 

We stayed there for two nights, then moved on to a different spot for one night, and yet another spot for the final night. We pulled in to Palmer Tuesday morning with just enough time to unload all our gear and clean up the RV a bit before turning it back in to the rental agency.

 

Sadly, I ended up with a very bad migraine which pretty much blew the entire trip. I was so bummed!

 

But we did manage a few light walks on some trails nearby and was able to do a little bit of berry picking. Bryan explored the lakes nearby our camping spots and got to get some fishing in. The kittens (Viktor and Naldo went with us) kept me entertained in the camper while he was gone.

Blueberry Picking

Bryan and I did a little bit of blueberry picking while we were off camping this weekend. 

I had hoped for a lot more, but the weather and my health said otherwise. Still, I’m quite happy with what we did manage to get.

I’m thinking we’ll save the 4-cup bag to be used in our sourdough pancakes each Sunday. The 8-cup bag we will use for Blueberry Cordial.

Picking was easy enough. I have seen a lot more berries in past years, but I have also seen a lot less. 

Bending over like that for hours on end sure takes its toll on an older body – I can remember picking berries all day long in my youth…

The season isn't over yet, so we may end up with another chance to pick blueberries this year.